"The speed at the end was certainly a surprise," Ulster Rugby's chief executive Shane Logan said. "However, we have been discussing David's options and his career plan ever since he and I started working together four and a half years ago.

"What we set out to do was move Ulster forward on all fronts …that we win much more, that we're highly competitive at the top end, that we create a legacy, that we have players coming through, that we have world-class facilities, coaches, strength and conditioning and medical.

"Now we're quite a way on to achieving that plan and what that means is like with any organisation that is being successful your people will be attractive to other organisations; it's the same in any business, any organisation.

"I certainly know that David has been approached by others in the past, so we knew this time would come. It's maybe come a little bit more quickly than we thought."

After enduring a tricky start to his Manchester United career, perhaps it is fair that Marcos Rojo celebrated so boisterously as he watched his first professional club Estudiantes beat fierce rivals Gimnasia